19C Elkington & Co Silver Samovar

19C Elkington & Co Silver Samovar

PRESENTING a GORGEOUS Mid-19th Century ‘Old Sheffield Plated Silver’ Samovar with mother of pearl handle by the VERY HIGHLY REGARDED Elkington & Co, and dating from 1852.

It is fully marked on the base….The first mark signifies ‘electro plate’….the second mark is “E. and Co under a Crown inside a shield” for Elkington & Co…….the third and final mark is the capital letter “N” for 1852.

BEAUTIFUL engraving and chased throughout in classic floral patterns……the central armorial cartouche is blank for personalization.

The samovar sits on a square base with fretwork gallery and 4 lions paw feet.

It has a removeable lid than finishes with a floral finial.

It has 2 scrolling vine handles on either side.

Some very minor blemishes consistent with age…..but otherwise in EXCELLENT condition. The silver plating is still IMMACULATE!!

Old Sheffield plate items like this…. and in particular, by Elkington & Co…. are HIGHLY SOUGHT AFTER !

The quality of the plating is simply superb…..to think that it is still in this fabulous condition (without silver loss) despite being 166 years old is AMAZING!

"Elkington & Co. are one of the most important names in English silver and certainly the most important in silver plate."

from www.silvercollection.it/Elkington.html.

It was founded by George Richards Elkington and his brother, Henry Elkington, in the 1830s. It operated under the name G. R. Elkington & Co. until 1842, when a third partner, Josiah Mason, joined the firm. It operated as Elkington, Mason, & Co. until 1861, when the partnership with Mason was terminated. The firm operated independently as Elkington & Co. from 1861 until 1963. It was then taken over by British Silverware, Ltd.. In 1971 British Silverware, Ltd. became a subsidiary of Delta Metal Co. Ltd.[1]

SHEFFIELD PLATE: Sheffield plate is a layered combination of silver and copper that was used for many years to produce a wide range of household articles. These included buttons, caddy spoons, fish slices, serving utensils, candlesticks and other lighting devices, coffee and tea sets, serving dishes and trays, tankards and pitchers, and larger items such as soup tureens and hot-water urns. Almost every article made in sterling silver was also crafted by Sheffield makers, who used this manufacturing process to produce nearly identical wares at far less cost.
The material was accidentally invented by Thomas Boulsover, of Sheffield's Cutlers Company, in 1743. While trying to repair the handle of a customer's decorative knife, he heated it too much and the silver started to melt. When he examined the damaged handle, he noticed that the silver and copper had fused together very strongly. Experiments showed that the two metals behaved as one when he tried to reshape them, even though he could clearly see two different layers.

Boulsover set up in business, funded by Strelley Pegge of Beauchief, and carried out further experiments in which he put a thin sheet of silver on a thick ingot of copper and heated the two together to fuse them. When the composite block was hammered or rolled to make it thinner, the two metals were reduced in thickness at similar rates. Using this method, Boulsover was able to make sheets of metal which had a thin layer of silver on the top surface and a thick layer of copper underneath. When this new material was used to make buttons, they looked and behaved like silver buttons but were a fraction of the cost.